The Boston Licensing Board concluded yesterday that Big Night Live was not to blame for a massive series of brawls on Causeway Street last October that ended with two cops, an EMT and several costumed pugilists injured and three people facing criminal charges.
Board members, who at first expressed skepticism the North Station club had nothing to do with its patrons spilling out onto the street and then re-assembling for a series of fights, said yesterday they were convinced by video provided by Big Night Live that, in fact, the club had ushered everybody outside after a "Yelloween" party on Oct. 19 without any problems and that the rolling brouhaha only started after everybody had cleared out from in front of the venue.
But board members said they now want to meet with Big Night Live executives and the security company for the TD North complex - which Big Night Live said was responsible for keeping a lid on things after the club closes.
"What happened between dispersal [of patrons] and chaos on the street, I am not clear," board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce said, adding, however, "something went wrong that night."
Joyce noted Big Night Live did not actually have any sort of written contract with the security company to ensure what happened in October would not happen again.
She added that the Halloween party was actually put on by a promoter, and that while Big Night Live said it had run events with that organization with no problems before, the board wants more "clarity" on promoter-led events in the future.
"They're good operators," she said of Big Night, but "this was really serious."
The Boston Licensing Board yesterday approved a Taco Bell Cantina, with updated stylings and even some vegetarian options, for 10 Maverick Sq. in East Boston.
The more upscale Mexican-like take-out place will have ten seats and be open for sit-down chowing until midnight - when the doors will shut, although pickup and delivery service will then continue until 2 a.m.
Board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce said its space, across from the Maverick Blue Line stop, "is a good location" for a take-out place. She added she didn't think it would prove a threat to other Mexican restaurants in the area that offer more of a sit-down dining experience.
The outlet will be the latest by Cantina Hospitality, a Connecticut-based franchisee that has led the resurgence of Taco Bells in Boston, which at one point was down to one last traditional Taco Bell in West Roxbury, but which, along with Brookline, now has several Taco Bell Cantinas, including in Allston and South Boston.
WBUR self reports on the end of Radio Boston after 17 years on the air.
The move comes just months after its host, Tiziana Dearing, was named anchor of WBUR’s Morning Edition show, where she continues to interview major newsmakers on a regular basis, including Gov. Maura Healey and Mayor Michelle Wu.
Two corrections officers at the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department were arrested today on charges they defrauded the state unemployment system and a federal fund aimed at helping small businesses at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic while they worked in the private sector and were not running their own small businesses.
Jasmine Murphy, 38, continued her fraud even after she was hired as a jail guard in January, 2022, continuing to file for unemployment while depositing her regular paychecks from the sheriff's department, according to the indictment against her.
Murphy and Christnel Orisca, 25, both of Boston, were indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday and are scheduled for initial appearances in US District Court in Boston today.
Murphy was charged with seven counts of aiding and abetting wire fraud and one count of aiding and abetting false statements to a financial institution; Orisca with five counts of aiding and abetting wire fraud and one count of aiding and abetting false statements to a financial institution.
According to their indictments, unsealed today, the two both filed for pandemic unemployment insurance in 2020, claiming they were making less than $89 a week when, in fact, they both held fulltime jobs - Orisca for two Connecticut-based companies, one that provided security for college campuses and the other that delivered packages, Murphy for a Maryland-based "workforce services" company and later for a Massachusetts company specializing in trucking asphalt.
Orisca became a Suffolk County corrections officer in late 2021; Murphy in January, 2022, according to their indictments.
Murphy, her indictment states, collected a total of $19,868 in both pandemic and regular unemployment she did not deserve, including at least one check for the week ending Jan. 29, 2022, when she was working fulltime for the sheriff's department.
In April, 2021, the indictment continues, she put in for a loan/grant with a private lender in the Payroll Protection Program, aimed at helping small businesses weather the pandemic, for the alleged beauty salon with supposed income of $20,000 in 2020, based on a Schedule C form she filed with her application.
In fact, the indictment charges, she did not run a beauty salon in 2020 and the Schedule C was fake, because she never filed one with the IRS. The lender gave her $17,708 - and eventually forgave the loan.
According to the indictments, Orisca filed for pandemic unemployment insurance between May, 2020 and September, 2021 with the state Department of Unemployment Assistance, and got a total of $26,414 in benefits even though he had a full time job for much of that period.
Then, in March, 2021, Orisca filed for a Payroll Protection Program loan/grant of around $20,000 for the freight trucking business with a monthly payroll of $8,000 he claimed to be running, his indictment states. With his application to a private lender in the program, he filed a forged Schedule C showing alleged company revenue of $115,347, the indictment states.
In fact, the company did not exist, but the lender issued him a $20,000 check, which he deposited and then used to wire $7,000 to a relative and pay off $800 in parking tickets, the indictment states, adding he also used the money to make car payments.
Police conducting a well being check in a fifth-floor apartment at the Harris, 390 Harrison Ave. in the South End, around 7 p.m. on Thursday found a body. Read more.
Somebody fired around 10 rounds in the area of 105 Bunker Hill St. in Charlestown shortly before 9 p.m. No victims, but at least two cars hit by bullets.
Cambridge Police report residents are getting calls from somebody claiming to be a Cambridge PD captain - while a siren and a police radio blare in the background - with a warning that the residents are targeted for arrest for missing jury duty but that they can fix things by depositing a large amount of money at a specific location.
Cambridge Police say they don't have a rank of captain and that neither they nor other law-enforcement agencies would ever "call a resident and ask for their personal or financial information or instruct someone to make a payment."
Police urge residents to never give out personal information over the phone to people who call you out of the blue and if you have doubts, hang up, look up the contact info for the entity they allege to be from and call that number.
Anyone with any information related to these incidents is strongly encouraged to call Cambridge Police at 617-349-3300. Those who wish to provide information anonymously may dial the Cambridge Police Anonymous Crime Tip Hotline at 617-349-9151.
In what has become an annual December rite, Boston city councilors yesterday approved a federal homeland-security grant only after a sometimes pitched battle over the roll of Boston Police in collecting information on Boston residents - and the way the council schedules votes on things.
The council voted 9-4 to not delay action on accepting a $12-million "urban area security initiative" grant from the federal Department of Homeland Security. Tania Fernandes Anderson (Roxbury), Councilors Julia Mejia (at large), Benjamin Weber (Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury) and Brian Worrell (Dorchester) voted to delay a vote to allow more hearings.
The money, which will be shared with other nearby communities, will go mainly for planning for emergency and police preparedness, for example, to protect large events such as the Boston Marathon, sports-team victory parades, the 2026 World Cup games and the 250th anniversary of American independence.
However, $2.5 million of the money will go to the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, which oversees surveillance cameras across the city and maintains databases of gang members and white supremacists.
But even some councilors who voted for the measure said a key goal of the council in the coming year should be to tighten up the city's Trust Act, which bars police from cooperating with the federal government on civil immigration issues, to protect even non-immigrants from federal wrath.
"As a Black man and immigrant, the issues of how we surveil and police the community are deeply personal for me," Councilor Henry Santana (at large) started. "I fully understand the concerns and fears surrounding surveillance and the sense of fear our communities can feel interacting with the government. My family has lived through it, I have lived through it."
At the same time, he said, the city needs to protect itself from potential harm surrounding large events, in particular 2026, including celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the US, World Cup games, the Marathon and Tall Ships, and that while the city would likely find someway to fund public-safety planning without the grant, the money might very well be pulled from other valuable programs, such as those involving youth and the arts.
Still, he continued, come Jan. 20, the council may need to find ways to protect "the bodily autonomy of people seeking abortions, reproductive care and gender affirming care" in Boston.
The council, he said, needs to focus "a critical lens on BRIC and BPD to ensure they align with our values and the true safety of our community."
Weber, who wanted another hearing, joined Santana in calling for a new look at protecting BPD data.
"With this incoming Trump administration, we need to make sure that we strengthen all the rules governing how our police department functions, including to strengthen the Boston Trust Act," Weber said.
"We heard from the police department that they're obligated follow not federal rules but local rules," he said. "We need to make sure that the police department is not sharing information. I think we can strengthen that and we should also work with our surrounding towns that are participating in the regional intelligence center to make sure we're not sharing information with them that they're going to share with the federal government."
Council President Ruthzee Louijeune (at large), who has been critical of the BRIC's gang database in the past, said she believes BPD has successfully changed its handling of the information to keep innocent people from being accused and their information handed over to the feds, and that most of the money will go to legitimate efforts to protect the city.
Councilor Sharon Durkan (Fenway, Mission Hill, Back Bay, Beacon Hill) said the BRIC was helpful in distributing information to residents about a recent spate of swastikas that appeared on Mission Hill, and said that she is particularly unwilling to hold up money to help protect her district for specific events, such as the Marathon and, she hoped, another Celtics victory parade down Boylston Street.
Mejia said she's not opposed to protecting the city, but said she felt a $12-million grant deserved more of a public airing than the one hearing it got the day before the council vote, especially when it involves the BRIC and its impact on Black and Brown communities.
She said this is just the latest example of the council being pushed to approve something in an emergency fashion when councilors and the public should have had more time to study it; in fact, she said the council has been reduced to a rubber stamp for the mayor, when it should be providing "checks and balances" on her.
As is her wont, Mejia vowed to take off the gloves and really battle with her fellow councilors on this procedural issue in the coming year and speak truth to power in a way she insists she's never done before, y'all.
"I'm about to unleash this little dragon," she told fellow councilors. "Y'all can come for me all you want, because I'm here for it."
And as his wont, Councilor Ed Flynn (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Downtown) who sits next to Mejia and who has frequently cast the lone or almost lone vote against votes on measures he feels need more study, demanded an immediate vote on this measure, because public safety should be paramount and because the grant is meant for Boston and surrounding communities. As a Navy veteran, who served during Operation Enduring Freedom, he said is is disappointed the council is once again debating the issue.
"As elected officials, we have a responsibility to tune out social media and listen and represent our constituents the best we can. we can't play political games with the safety and security of Boston and greater Boston residents," he said. The city and its neighbors need the money to help protect themselves from threats.
"Boston is the capital city," he said. "We have a res to help our cities and towns that surround the city. ... It not just about Boston. It's also about Cambridge. It's about Somerville. It's about Winthrop. It's about Chelsea. ... They're counting on us today to support this. They don't want a delay."
While Flynn said the grant needed an immediate vote, after the vote for the grant, he called on City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune to call a special City Council meeting for Dec. 18, so he and other councilors could hold a flock of hearings on matters he feels need more public airing, which led to sniping from Councilor Sharon Durkan (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Mission Hill), who said that as president, Louijeune has control over the council's agenda and she's not about to encourage anybody to "really encroach on what council president's role is."
Louijeune ended the matter by assigning Flynn's request to a committee, effectively killing it, since the council typically only votes on issues coming out of a committee at a regularly scheduled meeting, and there are no more regularly scheduled meeting's in the council's legislative year, which ends Dec. 31.
Watch the discussion (Mejia refers initially to both the grant in question and $4 million in less controversial public-safety grants):
The Boston Licensing Board voted today to let Home Market, 165 Belgrade Ave. in Roslindale, expand its current beer and wine license to include all alcoholic beverages, after hearing from the store's new owner that she would focus on Greek spirits, rather than simply trying to compete with the more common liquor already for sale at Punta Cana right across the street.
Board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce said Rose Letang, who bought the store about a year ago, proved a public need for expanding her current stock of Greek beer and wines - customers keep asking her for harder stuff and some have even walked out when she explained she couldn't sell it. And because she will focus on the niche market of Greek alcohol, Letang won't "duplicate what's across the street," Joyce said.
At a hearing yesterday, Letang said she would continue to sell non-alcoholic foods, drinks and other products, that she has enough shelf space to stay a "one-stop" shop for customers seeking a single place to pick up the day's essentials.
Home Market has long had a beer-and-wine license. In 2021, the owner of what was then Silva's Brazilian Market on the other side of Belgrade Avenue, which had its own beer-and-wine license, sold the store to Dominican owners, who changed the name to Punta Cana and dropped the non-alcohol offerings. They later won an upgrade to an all-alcohol license.
The area currently has two stores focusing on Greek food offerings: the Roslindale Fish Market on Poplar Street in Roslindale Square and the Greek International Food Market at Washington and Grove streets in West Roxbury. Effie's Kitchen, also on Poplar Street in Roslindale Square, offers Greek takeout.
The Boston Licensing Board today ordered a ten-day halt to alcohol sales at the Harvard Convenience Store, Brighton Avenue at Harvard Avenue because of a BPD raid in May that found a room with three slots machines and gamblers quaffing beers from the store's stock.
The board also decided to schedule a hearing on the "character and fitness" of the store's owner and manager, Grishma Patel of Allston, to be allowed to continue selling beer and wine in the future because of the incident.
"I have serious questions about them carrying on (as a licensee) at all," board member Liam Curran said.
This was the market's first licensing violation since it got a beer-and-wine license in November, 2023. The board would normally respond to a first violation with a simple warning letter, but board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce said the violation was so egregious it demanded immediate and swift action by the board; in fact, she said the fact the raid happened so soon after the market got its license suggests the owner intended to open a gambling den as part of a business strategy, and that's just wrong.
"It's not a little thing, it seems to be a very deliberate act," she said, adding the gambling micro-hall seemed to be well known among slots aficionados in the area.
Boston Police raided the market on May 31 and found ten men inside a small room with the three slot machines - and two dozen empty or partially consumed bottles of Corona and Modelo.
At a hearing on Tuesday, a market manager repeatedly pleaded the Fifth in response to questions about what was going on, citing the possibility of criminal charges by the state Attorney General's office, which is investigating the events leading to the raid.
On Sept. 9, the state moved to confiscate the $182,189.11 it says Boston Police seized in the May raid, as the possible result of illegal activities in the room.
On Sept. 19, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Rosemary Connolly allowed the state to continue to hold onto the money pending any other possible court actions, but then stayed that order on Oct. 11 to await possible criminal charges by the state.
No need to turn on the lights in one Broad Street residence.
A bleary-eyed resident files a 311 complaint about the seeming spotlights blaring out of a building under construction at 125 Broad St. downtown:
Entire building is unoccupied with all floors under construction. Light shines extremely bright from all floors. construction lights out all of its upper floors 24/7/365 and is impacting neighborhood living conditions. The light from the empty residential floors shines like a beacon 24/7 to the residents living across the street. This light pollution causes sleep disorders for residents that live at 110 Broad at.
Jeremy Reiner reports it's been 1,019 days since the last time Boston has seen six or more inches of snow in a single day, the fifth longest such streak since 1891.
The Dorchester Reporter reports longtime election official Sabino Piemonte took the blame for the way precincts across the city ran out of ballots on Election Day: In figuring out how many ballots each precinct should get, he mistakenly subtracted the number of early-voting ballots from precincts' anticipated numbers twice. Still unanswered: What to do about City Hall not answering calls from ballot-short precincts.
The New England Wildlife Center reports its workers captured four more birds along the oil-besotted Muddy River in need of cleaning and rehab today, bringing the total number of birds it now has under care to 43.
The weather worked to our advantage today as many of the birds were hunkered down taking shelter. This allowed us to get close and assess them for oiling.
The group adds:
The washing process has begun! Today the first 4 birds got their full wash! The washing process is extremely lengthy and stressful (for both the bird and the washers) since each wash can take up to an hour in length depending on the type and degree of oil contamination. We have started with the most heavily oiled today and tomorrow will hit the ground running with two separate teams washing for about 10 hours straight. We will continue this until we get through them all - Lather. Rinse. Repeat!
The Dorchester Reporter reports on the quick vote today by the Boston City Council to set tax rates that could mean a more than 10% increase for residential property owners after state senators refused to OK a deal between Mayor Wu and local business groups on a three-year measure to east that burden somewhat by letting the city increase commercial tax rates. The council also approved the usual tax break for residential owners who live in their own homes.
It's a nightmare getting home on commuter-rail trains out of South Station because of an Amtrak train that took out one of the overhead power lines near Back Bay. Or as the T puts it:
Framingham/Worcester, Needham, Franklin/Foxboro Line & Providence/Stoughton Line passengers are experiencing severe delays in both directions due to a downed catenary wire & earlier disabled Amtrak train. All trains must operate on one track at Back Bay.
